People

John Peña is a multidisciplinary artist who makes art as a way of exploring the natural world and his daily interactions. A few of John’s projects include: racing with clouds, making a drawing about his life every day for the last nine years, and creating life-sized plaster word balloons that are precariously balance on two-by-fours. John has exhibited artworks at The Mattress Factory Museum in Pittsburgh, Kevin Kavanaugh Gallery in Dublin, Kate Werble Gallery in New York City, and The Bumbershoot Arts Festival in Seattle, WA. He has attended a number of residencies and fellowships including The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. In 2009, Peña received a Fulbright Fellowship to work and teach in Cali, Colombia for eleven months. In 2012, he was awarded the Carol R. Brown Emerging Artist of the Year Award from the Pittsburgh Foundation. He has also received a Creative Development Grant from The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowment. He currently lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.